Steadfast - Dark Roast

Flavor Notes:
Cacao • Toasted Almond • Burnt Sugar

Origins:
Honduras • Tanzania

Process:
Washed

Altitude:
1,100–1,500 MASL

ON THE ROBUSTA

Half of Steadfast is a washed Grade 1 robusta from Tanzania. We have featured high-grade robustas before, including Grade 1 lots out of Vietnam, and we come back to them when the cup earns it. This one earned it cacao-forward and clean, without the burnt rubber edge (bad) robusta is known for.

It also does two things arabica cannot. Robusta carries close to twice the caffeine, and it costs less, which keeps the price down without taking anything out of the cup.

Clean robusta is a tool. We use it where it makes the coffee better.

DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURE

Roast Intent:
Developed for body and depth. The profile is pushed toward deeper sugar browning and a fuller structure while keeping the cup clean and heavy. To lean into the robusta's weight and round the cup, we extended development — low and slow, closer to an old-school dark roast but held short of where things turn burnt or acrid. By specialty standards this is a dark roast. On the scale most people know, it lands around a Starbucks medium.

Flavor Evolution:

Hot:
Cacao and burnt sugar lead the cup with a dense, grounded sweetness.

Cooling:
Toasted almond comes forward as the cup opens, with a heavy, low-acid finish.